Republicans Confirm Another One Of Trump’s Personal Attorneys To A Federal Court Seat

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans voted late Monday to put another one of President Donald Trump's personal attorneys into a lifetime federal judgeship, flouting the basic tenet that federal court picks must avoid even the perception that they cannot be impartial.

The Senate voted 48-43 to put Justin Smith onto the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Every Democrat present voted no, and every Republican present voted yes, except for one, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

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Nine senators missed the vote: Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Angus King (I-Maine), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). In theory, if all five of the missing senators who caucus with Democrats had been there and none of the missing Republicans came, Democrats could have blocked Smith's vote in a 48-48 tie.

Smith, 41, will now sit on a court that oversees federal district court appeals in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Smith is best known as Trump's personal lawyer who represented him in his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court, and who fought to have the Supreme Court overturn the ****** assault and defamation case brought against Trump by journalist E. Jean Carroll. He continued representing Trump in Carroll's case even after the president nominated him to the federal bench in March.

During his Senate nomination hearing in April, Smith refused to say whether he would recuse himself in cases involving the president. He also refused to say who won the 2020 presidential election, a basic question that virtually all of Trump's court picks have dodged in an embarrassing show of loyalty to the president, as they twist themselves in knots to avoid stating the fact that Joe Biden overwhelmingly won that election.

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"Who won the popular vote in the 2020 election?" Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed Smith during his hearing before the judiciary panel.

"The popular vote is not part of Article II or the 12th Amendment," Smith began in his convoluted response. "There is an Electoral College that meets in December of an election year for president and that gathers the cast–."

"Who won the 2020 election?" Blumenthal interrupted.

"The person who became president in January 2021 was when Congress certified–," Smith started.

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"In other words, you're not going to answer," the senator interrupted again. "You're going to give me the same rote, rehearsed answer, which frankly makes you look ridiculous if not pathetic."

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who recommended Smith to the White House for this appeals court seat, hailed his confirmation. The two have a long history: Smith was Schmitt's chief of staff and his assistant attorney general when Schmitt served as Missouri's attorney general from 2019 to 2023. Smith was also a senior adviser to Schmitt in the Senate.

"Justin Smith will make an outstanding judge and I'm proud to see him confirmed to the Eighth Circuit," Schmitt said in a Monday statement. "Justin understands our part of the country, our legal tradition, and the proper role of a judge within our constitutional system."

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Trump has nominated three of his personal attorneys to the federal bench since taking office in January 2025, and Smith is the second to get confirmed. The first, Emil Bove, served on Trump's defense team and as a Justice Department lawyer in the Trump administration, during which time he told federal attorneys to defy court orders and say "**** you" to judges who ruled against them. Bove, 45, now sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Matthew Schwartz, who represented Trump in his personal legal matters, is awaiting his confirmation vote to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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Ahead of Smith's vote, Sen. **** Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, condemned his nomination and emphasized how problematic it is that he's been representing Trump in Carroll's cases during his nomination process.

"This kind of conflict of interest raises serious questions," Durbin said on the Senate floor. "These are lifetime appointments to federal judgeships — lifetime appointments which have to be given to people who have been carefully scrutinized. We have not done that when it comes to Mr. Smith."

Alison Gill, director of nominations and democracy at the National Women's Law Center, went further, calling Smith a "corrupt" nominee and "dangerous for our democracy."

"In his work as Donald Trump's personal lawyer, he insisted that the president should be immune to all consequences for crimes, even including civil offenses like defamation while in office," Gill said in a statement. "Clearly, Smith was nominated to the Eighth Circuit because he has shown a willingness to prioritize the president's interests over the law."

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